How can I reduce redness underneath jaw?

[Golden Green]

Hi everyone, in the past few weeks I’ve made drastic improvements to my technique/prep and finally getting consistent BBS shaves with 2 ATG passes + touch up on the most stubborn area of my face - underneath my jaw/towards my neck. However, some splotchy redness still remains from before my technique and prep were more optimal. I’ve tried waiting 3+ days, one time even a week before resuming daily shaves to allow the redness to go away but had no luck. It may very well be that my technique isn’t quite there yet, or that I simply can’t do ATG passes on my neck.

My question is: what can I do to allow the area to fully heal, allowing me to “reset” my skin back to its healthy color? Is there a balm you’ve found that’s helped you in the past? Should I let my skin rest? For how long? Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[DougK]

What does the rest of your routine look like? Two ATG passes seems excessive to me, especially if you've already gone over the area WTG and XTG.

 

[spacemonkey42]

It sounds like you've been working very hard on your technique, @Golden Green, good for you! I don't know if this will help you, but after about a year of working on my technique, I've settled into a pattern where different areas of my face get different treatment. Some small areas don't get an ATG pass at all and others get two. Perhaps it might work for you to go easier on those areas that have been getting irritated. Just an option to consider. I'd rather have a no irritation and a little less than BBS in the stubborn areas.

Good luck and enjoy your shaves!

 

[Guido75]

Going straight ATG twice would leave me with a red face everywhere so kudos in that department.

The first answer to everything is always no pressure. The jaw line ATG is the point where you transition from neck to face and is one of my areas I tend to hold the razor down to the face i.e. use pressure. Usually goes well, but I have regular redness in that area as well.

I use witch hazel based aftershave splash and balm each shave. Normally the irritation is gone after a hour or so.

Cheers,

Guido

 

[DG109]

Nivea sensitive and tiger balm for sketchy shaves.

I just leave below my jaw to a single WTG pass. Regardless of technique or instrument, anything else tempts trouble.

 

[Golden Green]

What does the rest of your routine look like? Two ATG passes seems excessive to me, especially if you've already gone over the area WTG and XTG.

I've been trying to minimize the number of passes I do on my entire face, but especially my neck area. That's the reason I do 2 ATG passes: I used to do 3 in combination of WTG/XTG passes, but I would always need to do several ATG touchups to BBS the area. That's why I decided to lead with 2 ATG passes and touch up from there. Like I said in the OP though, ATG on the neck may not be worth the trouble - but damn it gives me a glass smooth neck!

 

[Dave himself]

Fine advice from the gentlemen above. I'm a noob at this but I learned through trial and lots of error that I got a lot of irritation along my jaw line if I shaved on my jawline ATG like yourself. I read lots of threads on here about shavers having the same problem as us. My fix was less pressure, don't shave ATG and don't chase the BBS. Now I shave 2 passes WTG XTG and a couple of light touch ups. I get a DFS++ sometimes a BBS. Hope this helps.

 

[Andris83]

I don't shave ATG on my neck. I get ingrown hairs just from thinking about it On my face I can now go ATG if the circumstances are right, but if I feel the first two WTG, XTG passes were not perfect, I might just do a cleanup pass and "settle" for DFS+.

 

[musicman1951]

For me WTG, XTG and ATG produces a BBS. I probably don't have your equipment/water or face, but two ATG passes for me would suggest the razor angle wasn't quite right.

Whatever works is good, but I would never suggest ATG, ATG and then touch-ups, which are really a partial third pass. A handful of years back I would also do a fourth touch-up pass. it started with just my chin and eventually bloomed out to include the jaw line - essentially about half my face. Yes, it got the job done, but my skin was not happy about it. My solution was to outlaw touch-ups. I readily admit there were months of gritting my teeth as I applied balm and felt my lack of a BBS in various places. They tended to be the same places and eventually (not quickly) by paying more attention to my technique on those areas I learned to get a BBS without touch-ups.

I like to recommend that fairly new shavers grant themselves some slack in the BBS department - like don't even try for a while - but I suspect that's not going to work for you. You're having good shaving success while slightly abusing your skin. I'd continue to experiment with technique, and you might try to use WTG or XTG for your first pass. It's also possible you don't have the idea razor or blade for your face/beard/technique, but you can get a good shave with anything as long as your technique is on the money. The less your equipment meets your needs the better your technique needs to be.

 

[Brutus]

Before going to bed, apply some diaper cream that contains zinc.
The zinc in the cream helps the skin to heal overnight and relieves rashes.
It has a whitish colour (therefore the “before going to bed” suggestion), but only a very small amount is needed.

What works on a baby’s butt also works on my face…


You don’t mention what shaving soap or cream you use.
Part of the function of a shaving soap/cream is to lubricate and help the blade glide over the skin, but some soaps/creams can cause skin reactions because of their composition.

Mitchells Wool Fat is a natural product that works well if you have soft water.
If you have harder water, you could try Haslinger Sheep Milk shaving soap.
Both lubricate very well and eschew chemicals that may cause irritation.

Very popular with beginners, Proraso (Green) may be not be the best choice, even if many shavers love it.
I have had reactions to some Proraso products and have stopped using them years ago.

Some aftershaves may also interfere with the healing process. Go for a balm or lotion that has a creamy texture and is dermatologically tested.

Lastly, I would look at the pressure and angle that you apply in this area and forget about two ATG passes for a while.


No one should have to pay for a close shave with skin irritation and every shave should be an enjoyable experience.



Good luck,





B.

 

[BigJ]

Great suggestions above!

For me, irritation results three issues:
1. Pressure (use minimal/none).
2. Razor angle (optimize for each area you are shaving)
3. Minimize the number of passes in each area.

No magic for me, just technique!!

 

[DougK]

Pretty good advice here, on watching your angle, no pressure and such, so I won't repeat it. BBS shaves will come in time all on their own. It's not worth damaging your skin to get them, though.

 

[nickm]

Hi everyone, in the past few weeks I’ve made drastic improvements to my technique/prep and finally getting consistent BBS shaves with 2 ATG passes + touch up on the most stubborn area of my face - underneath my jaw/towards my neck. However, some splotchy redness still remains from before my technique and prep were more optimal. I’ve tried waiting 3+ days, one time even a week before resuming daily shaves to allow the redness to go away but had no luck. It may very well be that my technique isn’t quite there yet, or that I simply can’t do ATG passes on my neck.

My question is: what can I do to allow the area to fully heal, allowing me to “reset” my skin back to its healthy color? Is there a balm you’ve found that’s helped you in the past? Should I let my skin rest? For how long? Any advice would be much appreciated.

From a marketing perspective you simply need to buy 6 new products and you'll back to normal. Buy new skin. Not joking. Your first 3 razors are terrible purchases, and none of the soap agrees with you. Consistently buying new things puts you in control of what you buy consciously.

0. preshave. try Caswell Massey almond oil. it is thick and 5 minutes will soothe your burning skin.
1. Ingredient list. Start paying attention. Tallow saves the day for me. Easy to use and has natural fats for the skin. why tamper with 200 years of perfection?
2. Argan oil post shave. Fastest regenerative properties known to man.
3. Castle Forbes has a cedar and sandalwood designed to stimulate and activate healing during period of cave man trauma. You need to use the product in order for the receptors to turn on. Try the balm and apply as a nightly mask.
4. WSP Natural. Switch to a neutral scent free soap and stay with it for 20-30 days.
5. Stirling Sheep. Tallow has healing properties that take 14-20 days in order to start receiving the benefits from

Your prep should include mandatory 5-minute hot towel wraps with the hottest water you can handle. Do two of those, the first water only. The second should have preshave oil. The third step is optional, lather up and wrap it in a towel for 5 minutes. That gives you 9-15 minutes of time to let the face soften and the hair time to fatten up to 200% in width, making it plump enough for the razor to shave with.

Razor blade itself. Buy 100 packs and try multiple brands. Derby Extra. Mild. Shark Egypt. LORD. Nothing more aggressive than those in the beginning. NO Personna, NO Feather. Try 1-3 uses and then use a clean blade.

My face was raw the first 6 months. I was trying to get in another shave with a one pass shave. It was painful, red skin and simply too much for the face to handle. Those Gillette products were simply way too aggressive for me.

Mild razor. A true NEW beginner razor. Van Der Hagen. Value. Mild. Vikings Blade butterfly. Italian Barber Mamba. Henson AL13.

Shave soap, look at the Marco method. And try using a shave bowl to make the lather consistent.

BBS shave should not be the goal. DFS damn fine shave and socially acceptable shave. There is an acronym chart on B&B, try to find it. Search the wiki.

Face lathers should be bowl to mitigate irritation.

Try shaving with a 14 point shave. Cheeks only. Keep the neck long (don't shave it). Keep the goatee long (don't shave it). Next day try the cheek and the mustache area. Keep the neck long and goatee long, don't shave it. The third day try to do cheeks, mustache and chin. Take 60 minutes and go slowly with the chin area in front of a mirror. After 4-5 days then go in with the neck using a cartridge and see the result. Compare your mastery of the safety razor to your existing cartridge.

I found I was using a LOT more pressure with the safety than needed. And really had no idea how to hold the razor. "Riding the cap" and finding the minimum angle did help somewhat. Forget about those ATG passes and try shaving with NEW hardware. You don't know if the razor were ever dropped and the doors are out of alignment. Or what if there were some weird bacteria eating flesh virus that were transmitted to the previous owner? Sanitize with isopropyl alcohol. Even your new blade. Get rid of the wild yeast growing on your stuff and your red bloody neck wounds. Try witch hazel (medical not the fancy bottle) after the bloody sores go away.

A shower does seem to heal skin a lot quicker. Worst case scenario is you take 45-60 days off from shaving, I think I did that in my 20's. You can afford to not have a clean shave and your facial hair is not going to be outrageously long.

Splotchy or red blotchy skin see a skin doctor. For me I stopped using face soap in the shower. Only a cotton cloth and water. Soap can be a major irritant, especially mixing multiple kinds together. You could have a bad batch of potash lye or quite honestly you've done 500 things to confuse, hurt and damage your skin.

ICE is a natural inflammatory. Preparation H (cream) and triple anti biotic is always worth having on hand.

Get FACE soap, not BODY BAR soap.

Hope some of this helps.

 

[Go West Young Man]

You. Do. Not. Need. BBS.

You. Should. Not. Try. To. Get. BBS.

BBS. Will. Come. Of. It's. Own. Accord. Eventually. Or. It. Won't.

Even if you achieve perfect BBS, what does that last, a couple hours at most? Just work on getting a consistently good shave with no irritation. Everything else will work itself out.

 

[jcbarnard]

I shave down/wtg, and then one pass across my jawline. Works great, smooth enough but I don't chase perfection there and on my lower neck it's not worth it.

 

[Calyshaver]

Skin irritation is a signal that something is wrong, whether it be an allergen or the trauma of shaving. There are so many variables for you to address through the process of elimination. Some things that come to mind to try are:

1. Reduce number of skin products being used and pay attention to ingredients. Try unscented?
2. Reduce number of passes to see how skin reacts in that area, eliminate ATG passes as a test.
3. Use a blade only once or twice.
4. Have you tried alum after the shave as it is a natural aftershave treatment and antiseptic, straight from earth with no added ingredients.
5. Are you using scalding hot water, maybe dial down the temperature of the water in your prep routine. A dermatologist once told me Americans take too many really hot showers.
6. Do you swim in a chlorinated pool?
7. Do you have enough lather on that area that gets irritated? The use of pre-shave oil is good suggestion as adequate lubrication is important.
8. Just like bone joints and muscles, when your skin is injured its also needs rest and an anti-inflammatory treatment (ice, alum). I like the previous suggestion of taking a month off to "reset" that area.

Those are my quick thoughts. Hope you get your skin healed up well.